


the fine art of ink spots

by NianaiBell



Series: Umino Appreciation Fics [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Canon Typical Shenanigans, Gen, Iruka Week 2021, Kakashi and Gai's usual challenges, Needles are mentioned, Slice of Life, Tattoo Artist Iruka, Tattoos, pizza is involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 19:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30009702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NianaiBell/pseuds/NianaiBell
Summary: Iruka Week 2021/Day 4: Any AUIruka runs a perfectly respectable tattoo parlor.His clients didn't seem to get that message.
Series: Umino Appreciation Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202717
Kudos: 10
Collections: Iruka Week 2021





	the fine art of ink spots

His 1 o’clock was late.

Iruka knew unexpected circumstances happened all the time; ever since he'd adopted Naruto he'd become quite familiar with many inexplicable hold-ups that manifested within a single day. But Iruka ran a rather well-oiled machine of a shop and punctuality was a cornerstone of his job. A simple phone call warning him he’d be waiting a while longer for a client was common courtesy, wasn’t it? 

As it was his client was already running fifteen minutes late and meaning he had already wiped down his work station (needles and all), reorganized his ink bottles, done a quick sweep of the shop to chase away any lingering dust bunnies, and checked on Naruto and Konohamaru to make sure the two were set with a couple of juice boxes and their homework from the week. Despite the petulant pout at Naruto’s lip, they both knew he was going to be working on his history project if he wanted Iruka to uphold his end of their bargain; his choice of one dinner this week being replaced with a visit to Ichiraku.

With one last peek into the next room over he watched as Naruto rather loudly (and incorrectly) explained to Konohamaru how he’d masterfully maneuvered Iruka into the palm of his marker-covered hand. Iruka had to duck out before he gave away his presence with an ill-advised laugh.

Seven minutes later the tiny golden bell above the shop’s front entrance jingled to announce a new arrival. Glancing up from his methodical examination of photos showcasing past tattoos that covered the expanse of the forest green back wall, Iruka almost dropped the cleaning rag in his hand.

He could see why his client was so late.

Wedged in the doorway were two full-grown men, both dripping wet from head to toe. Surprisingly only one of them looked absolutely done with the day. The other simply smoothed back the mass of damp hair from his forehead and gave Iruka a thumb’s up, toothy grin flashing dramatically in the shop’s bright lighting.

“We’ve made it! Umino-san I do apologize greatly for our tardiness but I guarantee you our intentions were to be at least ten minutes early like you requested over the phone.” Iruka recognized the man’s deep timber from their phone call last week (it was a difficult voice to forget).

Maito Gai.

 _What a way to make a first impression,_ Iruka thought dazedly. 

He waved off the apology and turned to poke around his supply closet, securing two freshly laundered towels for the men. Both men accepted the offering gratefully and Iruka leaned against the pine counter, arms crossing patiently as they began to towel off the worst of the water.

“Just Iruka is fine and I'm just glad you two could make it. Although it does seem as though you two ran into a bit of trouble on your way here.”

Gai’s companion huffed in agreement as he shook the remaining droplets from his hair and onto the shop floor Gai. Seemingly unfazed by their mishap, Gai gave an empathetic head nod. “Indeed! You see on the way here, I was struck by the absolute beauty of the walk and it inspired me to challenge my eternal rival Kakashi to see who would be the first one through your doors. Not my most creative challenge but nevertheless a wonderful opportunity for us to prove our skills.”

Iruka quirked an eyebrow at the phrase ‘eternal rival’ and received a noncommittal shrug in return from the silver-haired man. 

“And somewhere along the way you two stumbled into a fountain?” Iruka ventured.

“Not quite Iruka-san but I see you’ve figured out the gist of our misfortune.” Gai's voice boomed in the confined space of the parlor's waiting room and Iruka wondered if he was always this intense. 

“It was a lake.” The other man deadpanned.

Iruka watched the two and saw that there was no hint of an incoming punch line. They were both dead serious. What kind of sitcom had he stumbled into in the last hour? Floundering for anything else to say except for ‘how do two grown men stumble into a lake during a race to a tattoo shop’ Iruka chose to internally examine his willingness to tattoo Gai, who could pose his own potentially heard to his future tattoos if this was the type of shit he was up to in his spare time.

He firmly bit back the thought and ran a hand through the strands of the half of his hair that wasn’t knotted into a bun. “So I’m guessing that’s why there wasn’t a call."

From the back pocket of damp jeans, Kakashi fished out a pathetic looking cell phone and demonstrated how tapping the screen left the phone unresponsive.

“The casualty of our hubris.”

Apparently Gai had wrung out as much liquid as possible from his unsettling spandex-y shirt, moving his hands to dramatically hold his forehead as if it was too heavy to support on his own anymore.

“So you see Umino-san, we apologize for our unprofessional tardiness and I’ve already decided that after this I will do 20 laps around your shop in retribution for my failure. But I would still very much like to continue on with our appointment if you agree to the notion.”

Gai was something else and he was the picture of remorse standing before Iruka, head bowed uncomfortably low and body painfully rigid.

“As your tattoo artist, I really should insist that doing any strenuous exercise like doing laps around my building would be bad for your fresh tattoo.” _And his business if his neighbors were feeling particularly nosy._

The subtle acknowledgment of their appointment still holding had Gai punching the air dramatically and nearly tearing up. He slapped his companion on the shoulder and Iruka tried not to wince at the wet slap of impact.

“You hear that Kakashi? I knew our Iruka-san was the best choice for my tattoo, that youthful understanding is something you can’t find just anywhere.”

Kakashi just hummed tiredly in response.

“Don’t you guys know you’re not supposed to go swimming just before a tattoo appointment?” Chimed a raspy voice behind Iruka’s shoulder.

The trio of men turned to regard the blond boy staring them down, complete with an even smaller brunette shadow at his side. 

“Right you are! Iruka-san had previously warned us but alas on our way-”

Gai looked about two seconds from spiraling into a rather sparkly speech and Iruka did his best to not bat an eye as his cohort swiftly took hold of both of Gai’s green-clad shoulders and begun to steer him further into the shop.

“Yes Gai, I’m sure these children would love to hear this but we’ve held our artist up long enough don’t you think? It’s just back here I’m assuming Iruka-san?” Kakashi steered Gai pointedly towards Iruka’s usual room and tilted his head inquiringly. Iruka followed after the two, fully preparing himself for one of the most unexpected appointments he’d ever scheduled. He sternly motioned for Naruto to return to the waiting room and pushed up his sleeves.

Fifteen minutes and two impressively impassioned speeches later and Iruka had finally gotten Gai to lie on his stomach so Iruka could begin his work.

He took one final dab at the excess ink outline of a fiery dragon that covered most of Gai’s muscular back and Iruka was actually pretty pleased with how the final sketch had turned out. The dragon’s head crested over the curve of a shoulder before its flame-coated body spiraled and weaved across the dips of Gai’s back, ending with a pointed tail that ended just above his hip. Designing the tattoo with Gai had been an experience; the other man was passionate and had a solid idea of what he wanted (and what wouldn’t fit his ‘hip’ aesthetic). After Iruka had sent over some images of similar tattoos he'd already done, Gai insisted they incorporate Iruka’s own flair of flowing ripples woven throughout the design.

With that he flipped on the needle and grinned at Gai who was watching him through the full-length mirror across from him.

“You ready?”

The answering smile was absolutely blinding. “My body is your canvas. Let’s do it!”

Iruka nodded and placed the needle to skin.

\---

Ninety minutes later Iruka had insisted on a break, assuring Gai that he asked all his clients to do this even. Gai had proceeded to proclaim he was doing fine and had another few hours in him. 

The three men lounged on the plush couches the shop housed, trading small stories and queries while Naruto and Konohamaru examined the progress of Gai’s tattoo.

Naruto’s scrunched-up face regarded the outline intently, looking rather unimpressed with the current state.

“Iruka-nii, you promise this is gonna look awesome by the time you finish it right?” Naruto asked skeptically, fingers raising like they were going to test whether or not the ink was dry.

“Don’t touch Naruto, you know the deal. And yeah, we have a couple more sessions before this one will be done though. There's still shading, adding more colors and details. Then we have the background. But it should turn out pretty cool.”

Gai was nodding along sagely to Iruka’s words.

“You’ll be seeing a lot more of us kids don’t worry! And your nii-san has been doing some truly incredible work today. This momentary pain will result in a piece that truly captures the vigor of our springtime of youth. It’s glorious, don’t you think Kakashi?”

The other man had been watching silently as Konohamaru drew a “marker tattoo just like Iruka's” along Kakashi’s now exposed forearm, looking for all the world as if he had clocked out although Iruka suspected that was just the desired effects of his face mask and flop of hair. He brought his gaze back to the blond boy who was watching him with a wary frown. His eyes closed into tiny crescents, expression reassuring. “You’ve seen how Iruka-san's other tattoos have turned out, right?”

“Yeah, they were all _awesome_. Except for that snake one you did last week. Ewww.”

“Well, I have no doubt this one will be awesome too Naruto-kun.”

The validation seemed to satisfy Naruto and he turned to Iruka, small hands tugging Iruka’s sweatpants impatiently. “I wanna be here when you finish Bushy-brow’s tattoo.”

“Naruto, his name is Gai-san. Don’t be rude.” Iruka said sternly, lightly flicking his fingers against Naurto’s forehead despite the small yelp of protest.

The shop bell gave a tiny clink and all eyes turned to regard the newest occupants of the shop.

“Yamato-san! Genma-san! Did you bring us pizza like you promised?” Konohamru squeaked excitedly, marker tattoo already forgotten as he bounced around underfoot of the two men.

“Hey now, Konohamaru! Where’s our hello?” Genma smirked at the obviously expectant face below.

Hunger apparently won out over his manners though because the boy waved the comment off dismissively. “Yeah yeah, welcome back. Now about that pizza?”

Yamato deflated, rolling his eyes skyward. “You only like us for our ability to provide food.”

Keeping both boxes of pizza balanced in his hand, Yamato easily sidestepped the wiggly boy and laid the containers beside Iruka’s current position on the countertop. He nodded in greeting to his coworker and went about breaking into the boxes. Iruka gathered the spare paper plates they kept stashed in their upper cabinets, fishing napkins out too.

“So, how’s the tattoo looking Iruka?” Genma asked around his toothpick, hands ruffling Naruto’s hair affectionately as the blond approached in search of food.

Iruka nodded towards Gai, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the sudden chaos of two more additions to the shop. “See for yourself. Gai do you mind? This is Genma and Yamato, they work here too.”

“Although I’d say _work_ is a stretch sometimes.” Yamato teased and Genma shot him a look over Naruto’s head.

“Look, if you two would stop hogging all the clients then maybe I do more than sit here collecting dust.”

“I mean, if having fewer clients frees you up for pizza runs then I’m not complaining.” Iruka chimed in as he loaded up two plates for the boys. Prize in hand the boys quickly scampered off to the other half of the waiting room to flip onto their bellies in front of the television where Iruka could hear the annoyingly familiar jingle of their favorite show.

“Only two episodes and then you need to go with Yamato to the Uchiha’s tonight!” Iruka reminded the kids before they became fully engrossed in an animated talking dog.

“But I don’t even _like_ Sasuke!”

“I seem to remember you being the one who insisted that you two hang out this weekend.”

The blond head of hair appeared over the couch cushions, sticking his tongue out childishly. “Did not!”

Iruka rolled his eyes and extended a plate to Gai and Kakashi. “We got enough here to feed at least four more people. Please have some or else Naruto’s going to insist on leftover pizza for the next two days.”

After a brief hesitation that Iruka could not begin to explain but very much did not like the direction it was heading, Kakashi tipped his head towards Gai,

“We are tied right now you know.”

They both looked at each other and then the slices in their laps. Matching sparks of determination flared up in their faces.

“I like how your mind works.”

“On three?”

“On three.”

From the general direction of the couches, Naruto and Konohamru popped up with wide eyes.

“A pizza-eating contest? I’m in! Iruka-nii I need more slices.”

“Hey don’t forget about me. If Naruto’s doing it then I will too!”

“That’s the spirit Konohamaru!” Naruto shouted gleefully, tiny fist pumping in excitement.

The three brunets (obviously the only sane people left in the room) all shared a look of exasperation at the crackling energy suddenly coating the front room of their shop. Yamato fixed Iruka with an unflinching stare as the chatter in the background showed no signs of dying down.

“This seems like your problem Iruka.”

Iruka took another bite of pizza, chewing it over thoughtfully. “I will. In a minute. Gonna finish this slice.”

Genma covered his laugh with a theatrical cough as Yamato turned his flat expression in the other’s direction. “You wanna take over here?”

“Nah, this is the most excitement this shop has had in _months_.”

“Is this going to happen every time your clients show up?” Yamato was watching the proceedings with grim fascination as Kakashi and Gai wolfed down their second slice, Naruto and Konohmaru cheering them on over their shoulders.

Iruka didn’t answer, amusement winning out as he watched over the group. He'd let the fun go on for a while at least, although if Gai messed up any of the linework Iruka had spent the last hour and a half on he was going to be having a very unpleasant conversation soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy did this one get out of hand rather quickly. This stemmed from 'Huh Iruka covered in tattoos would be fun' to family feel/slice of life/nonsense


End file.
